Crossing the line
by pen of the dark
Summary: Will Lily and James ever find where the lines really are? In this world of dark times, Hogwarts is a haven, a get away, can Lily and James find themselves and eachother?
1. Introductions Made

**Crossing the line**

_Disclaimer: I do not own these charecters, they are the creation of J.K Rowling. I probably don't even own this plot, so I won't claim that one either._

Lily was sitting on her bed, humming, and organizing notes for upcoming exams. O.W.L's were in about a month and Lily did not want to be behind on studying. None of her roommates were in. Alice, as far as Lily knew, was with Martha and a Ravenclaw friend whom Lily did not know the name of. Emily was with her film group for the afternoon, and would be out until curfew watching movies. Martha was with Hufflepuff friends, doing something stupid. And Liz was, well, she didn't exactly know where her best friend was. So Lily was left in complete silence, which suited her just fine. Just as Lily was putting her notes away, the door opened and Liz came in with a bang.

"Liiiillllyyyy" She rang, jumping on Lily's bed.

"Hmm?" Lily said, lying down

"I'm so tired, James was really drilling us today." Sprawling out on Lily's bed.

"I thought it was just a game for fun." Lily said, sitting up

"Well it was, but it didn't seem like it. I would have told you if you missed practice."

Lily and Liz were perfect for each other; they just balanced each other out. They were very similar, but at the same time, much different. They were the best of friends, ever since day one, they were tight. They didn't even know how it happened; it was just there, like magic. They felt almost like extensions of each other sometimes.

There was a resounding ring in the room, like a telephone, but lower, and some how much more happy. Liz looked at Lily and rolled her eyes, smiling. It was Liz's mum, who was using a device that Lily and Liz had created. A television set was hidden underneath the nightstand in between Lily and Liz's beds. Liz taped the nightstand with her wand, and sat down on her bed, pulling her legs underneath her. The TV set flew out from under the night stand to hover in the air in front of them, with the face of none other than Mrs. Kinsey.

"Darlings!" Said the exuberant voice

"'lo Sarah, how're you?" Lily said

"I'm wonderful, honey, how are you?" said the t.v, spinning to face Lily.

"I'm fine."

Sarah paused a moment to made a pouty face at Lily "I wish you were here"

"I know, so do I" Lily said

It was common knowledge that Lily sucked up to Sarah, and in turn, Sarah loved her quite dearly. Lily acted quite loud and obnoxious around Sarah because it made her laugh (though that wasn't hard to do). Lily was glad to be talking to Sarah, but was also really glad that she did not have to live with her, because she knew that Liz got annoyed quite quickly with her mum. Liz's mum was a good natured woman who seemed to make the word exuberance come to life, she was really funny, and enthusiastic, and for all of Liz's eye rolling, a really good mum. Lily liked her quite a bit, though was glad her own mother was not so loud.

"So," The screen said, turning from Lily to face at Liz "You'll never believe who I ran into today"

"I dunno, who, mum?" Liz said in a bored voice

"David and Patricia Diggory!" Sarah said, outraged. "God that man is a prick, you should have heard him. He was actually saying that it was a fluke that you blocked more than Amos! He said that the chaser was being easier on you because he fancied you!"

"Pft. Right. I'm a better keeper than Amos, even on a bad day." Liz said ruefully

"Yeah, All you have to do is feint and he goes soaring" Lily added

"I hate how he prances around as if he owns the place, with that vapid wife of his, it makes me want to hurl." Sarah said loud enough that Lily was sure all of Hufflepuff could probably hear.

"Amos is alright though," Lily said, now reading a magazine.

"Yeah, when he's not gloating about everything." Liz added in sour tones

"Give him time, he's only a kid still, how much credit can you give him?" Lily said, flicking a page

"he's in your year, isn't he?" Sarah said

"Yes, but everyone knows that boys take longer to mature." Liz said, reading Lily's mind.

"Right, well, I've got to be off, it's getting late and you girls should get some sleep, Jeff is calling me. We're going out to eat. Night!"

"Night" the girls rang in return

The television switched off and retuned to its home under the nightstand with a resounding thud. Liz commented dryly "we should really fix that" for about the seven thousandth time in the span of it's working days. The girls stayed up for a while longer, enough to see all their roommates for what seemed like the first time in a long while.

Emily was to first to come in, holding a pillow around the middle with both arms and grinning wildly as she always did after being with her film group. She walked over to her bed and sighing.

"Brilliant. It couldn't have been any better. We watched the goblin prince. It's my favorite."

"I've never heard of it," said Liz, who was half pure blood and half muggle born and knew her fair share of movies.

"Neither have I" Lily said

"Are you sure? it's a childrens movie, with a goblin that lives underground and wants to be a prince" Emily demonstrated by hopping around a bit and laughing

"yes, I think we deduced that it would have something to do with a goblin and a Prince, maybe both, based on the name" Liz said, making Lily laugh.

Lily liked all of her roommates quite a bit; they all were good people, no matter what their pasts were. Emily was the lightest of the group, she would speak her mind and defend all of her friends, but when it came up to standing up for herself she crumbled. She, however, was quite smart and quite good looking, traits which all of the 6th year Gryffindor girls seemed to share seemed to share in their own way. Emily was strange in her looks, she had large blue eyes, which some would say were too big and dark black hair, always pulled into a pony. She had a chiseled face, and a tall body, though she slouched a bit. Emily also had a knack for spilling everything about herself, and everything that was going through her mind, which was never normal and always blunt truth, usually making all the roommates clutch their sides with laughter.

"so what did you guys do?" Emily asked, pulling out a brush and raking it through her hair

"Talked to my mum" Liz said

"That's always fun," Emily said "Tell her I say hi."

"'course."

The rest of the roommates invaded the room and all of a sudden it became very loud. Emily disappeared to take a shower, leaving Alice, Martha, Lily and Liz to socialize.

"Soo… I hear that Amos has a crush on Liz." Martha said in a fake smug voice with an expression to match.

"What? Who'd you hear that from? That's not true." Liz said, giving exactly the reaction they wanted.

"Oh, yeah. I was talking to Sophie, you know, the Hufflepuff and she says he's got it good." Martha said knowledgably

"I highly doubt that." Liz said incredulously

"Oh, it's true." Jessica said, catching on

"How would you know, Jess?"

"Because she was there" Martha said smoothly.

Lily enjoyed all of her room mates quite thoroughly, Martha, Emily and Alice were all much very different people, but all were very compatible. And all of them loved to pick on Liz. She often had a quick, sarcastic retort for everything, was very out going and very athletic and brainy, in fact, most would say there was nothing wrong with Liz at all. She was very good looking in an unconventional way, she had eyes similar to Lily's, almond shaped, except they were Hazel, which sparkled and high cheekbones with perfect eyebrows that were a little on the skinny side. She had wavy golden hair that reached a little ways past her shoulders.

Liz did, however have problems that Lily knew full well about, for one thing, her athleticism and intelligence generated quite a bit of jealousy in boys and girls, and unfortunately that meant that rumors flew about her like no other, and people were very ready to slander her. Lily kept Liz going in a way. They weren't attached at the hip, they had different friends and weren't always together, but for the important stuff, they headed straight to each other.

Emily and Martha were pretty good friends, but their best friends were in other houses. Both were reasonably outgoing, though not out of the norm, and both had a good deal of courage. Martha was funny, in the giggly way and was always there to smile and stick her tongue out at you. She was very sincere and knew how to find humor in everything; she was also very laid back and went with the flow. She was school smart in certain classes, when she was paying attention, but did not have very good common sense. Alice was there to have a shoulder to cry on, the optimist of the group, she was almost there to motivate (which Emily then helped with). Alice was pretty in a conventional way, she had dark hair and blue eyes so dark they were almost black, but her main advantage was the fact that she was a heavier person than most; she could take care of things, and worked well under pressure. Alice was a strong person and was very good friends with Lily and Liz because of it. They watched each others and everyone else's backs. The three of them were very quick at school and were quite smart in physical venues as well. Martha looked different; she had a girl version of a square jaw, which was not unhandsome, light blue-green-grey eyes and quite red hair, which she died that way.

"Amos is a git." Liz said firmly

"Hmm, I used to watch him in class and I decided that he looks a bit like a leprechaun." Emily said, now in her pajamas and hopping on the bed in an odd uncoordinated matter.

All the girls stopped for a second and then laughed, all thinking about Amos as a Leprechaun. It wasn't so much that it was funny, it was more the fact that none of them knew what to say, as always around Emily. It was hard to know how to react, so they all just laughed.

"Why were you watching him in class?" Lily said, giggling

Emily reddened slightly and then laughed "I dunno, I just heard these girls behind me talking about how fit he was and I just couldn't quite see it."

"Oh great, it's just like me to get the ugly leprechaun." Liz stated unhappily, though a flicker of a grin was on her face.

_Well, there's chapter two. I got bored and decided to write more. I'm a little upset that I didn't get any feedback though. Even if you don't like it, just tell me. I want to know what's wrong so I can fix it._


	2. A Rush

**Crossing the line**

Disclaimer: I do not own these charecters, they are the creation of J.K Rowling. I probably don't even own this plot, so I won't claim that one either.

* * *

She felt the blood rush to her head. Her anger swelled inside of her, a beast waiting and begging to be unleashed. As a general rule, Lily was an even tempered girl, but there was something about James Potter. She practically ran down the girls stairs, feeling the quick, agile ticking of her feet landing on each step. She knew very well that there was a good chance that Potters' insufferable room mates would probably be hanging around, but as of this moment, she didn't really care. She rapped on the door with her knuckles and waited for a response.

A silky black head of hair, poked out of the door. The door opened fully, giving Lily no time to think, and standing in front of her was none other than Sirius Black. She flicked her eyes into the room; Peter was lying on his bed, writing what looked like his transfiguration essay. Remus was apparently out, as was Frank, but Lily had already known that he was with Margo. Sirius moved so he was standing in the majority of the doorway, as if to hide the room from her veiw.

"What can I help you with Ms. Evans?" he asked in a sly sort of way

"Where's Potter." She said, trying her best not to glare too much.

"Why do you need him?" he asked

"Look, are you going to tell me or not?" she asked impatiently, knowing that Sirius could keep this up all day.

"I dunno." He said dismissively.

"What do you mean? Of course you know you're his best mate."

"Yes I am. I never really _know_. Slippery fellow, you know? Generally I just guess, and then there his is. 'Fraid I can't help you if you want to _know._"

"Where would you guess then?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"What do you want with him?" Lily was finally fed up with this game

"Fine! I'll find him myself!" She turned on her heel to leave

"Try the quiddich pitch. Jesus." He said to her back, closing the door as he walked back into his room.

Lily strode off towards the quiddich pitch thinking about how she was going to approach Potter and give him a piece of her mind. Her walk became more brisk as she thought about the issue at hand. The boy had nerve. He'd made her life hell. She'd caught him fighting with Severus Snape again, and gave him a detention, which he thought highly unfair and had gotten her back by ruining her date at Hogsmead last weekend. If that hadn't been bad enough, one of her friends from Ravenclaw came to hr crying about some horrible things James had said about her. Fuming once again, Lily found her way to the pitch.

James was alone, walking back to the changing rooms which were to her left. She walked up to greet him. He was wearing his cruddy practice gear that was covered in blood and grass stains with rips in his jersey. She wondered vaguely if he ever washed it.

"Evans." He greeted

"Potter." She said, hoping he wouldn't just walk past her.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked, walking past her.

"I don't really think it will be a pleasure." She said, stopping.

"Really? And why not?" He said turning, and looking curious.

"Because I've got a fight to pick with you."

"Sorry, Evans, I'm not fighting you. Look, if it's because of that date thing then-"

"It's not just about that. You know Lynda Schlesinger? She heard you talking about her."

"So?" He said indifferently

"She's a human, and cares when you say awful things about her."

"Yeah, well maybe if she weren't so cocky I wouldn't have said those things."

"I hate you." She said, passionately "All you ever care about is yourself. Why don't you step into her shoes before you say anything? Did you ever stop to think about what it might be like for her?"

"Yes, I did. If she thinks she knows the answers, why doesn't she just raise her hand and answer like everyone else?"

"She doesn't like speaking in front of other people."

"Then she can keep her mouth shut. Look, I know I'm being a asshole right now, but honestly, I didn't mean for her to hear. I wouldn't have said it to her face. But that's how I feel. Did you ever stop to think about how I feel?"

"About how _you_ feel?" Lily said incredulously

"Yes." He said smirking "So is it your hobby? Being a hypocrite, I mean."

"Of course I thought about how you felt. But was letting your feelings out really worth making someone cry?"

"Look, I didn't mean to make her cry. I could see how you would be mad if I just walked up to her and told her that, but I didn't. So back off."

"No! God. I. Ugh!"

"Anything you'd like to add to that before I go?" he said, in an arrogant way that made her want to scream

"Yes! I'm tired of the way you always think you're right! You _deserved_ that detention! You didn't need to pay me back by-"

"It was just a bit of fun, okay? Jeff's hand reappeared and everything. Don't hold a grudge, it's unladylike."

"He didn't do anything to you. If you wanted payback you should have done it to me."

"It's not my fault he's a berk. But you, darling, are not a berk, and so I find it much less enjoyable to prank you on such short notice."

Lily stayed silent. This whole thing was a lost cause, she could say anything, and he would just throw it right back. But being who she was, and very stubborn, she replied "That's a lie."

"Come again?" He asked

"You heard me. You love pranking me. You love cursing people in the hallways. You love it because you're an immature git. You'll never grow up, ever."

"Well, what can I say?" He said admittedly.

"Now I can see why Severus hates you." She said, flinching on the inside at the thought of Snape.

"What?" He said in disbelief

"You tease him and prank him and curse him. He has no friends, and if that's not bad enough, you have to torture him." He started walking to the locker rooms pulling her in toe.

"He doesn't have any friends for a reason, Evans" Potter said dryly

"Yeah, because you'll attack them" She said knowing that no one would befriend him anyway

"Are you really that stupid?" He said, pulling the door open for her.

"That's not the point! The point is that you are a coward and Severus can't be expected to stand up to you and all your friends." She turned in the doorway to face him

"Do you honestly think that he's a better person than I am?"

"Yes. I think he has more honor than you do." She said coldly, moving aside to he could get through

"You're a nut." He said throwing his stuff in the first locker, which had been left standing open

"You're a git."

"You're…. You're." He stopped "No. I won't say it, I was brought up better than that."

"Funny, that's news to me."

"Goodbye, Evans." He said coldly,shutting the locker door and walking away.

* * *

"I hate James Potter." Lynda sputtered

"Oh, Lynda, what happened?" Lily asked soothingly

"I d-didn't even do anything, stupid g-git. I dunno why I'm so mad about it, its n-not like I care what he thinks."

"Tell me what happened, and I'll tell you if you're over reacting or not."

* * *

James was sitting in transfiguration class, trying to find something to do with himself while McGonagall was talking. He was listening, but he didn't know why. It wasn't like this stuff was hard. Sirius was asleep in the corner, Remus was taking notes, and Peter was staring off into space. Everyone else was paying attention, so he figured he might as well look like he was listening.

"What is the equilibrium point for changing pigs into dogs?"

There was silence, no one answered because they were either too shy, or too lazy. No one wanted to break the silence. He heard a murmur behind him, and again, he thought he was going crazy. McGonagall answered her own question and continued.

"What is the simple incantation for changing one species of a related class into another of that same class?"

Then he herd the murmur again "siminassi"

"Anyone?" McGonagall asked

"Siminassi" the murmur again

All through class the person behind him, who he found was an unattractive, nerdy looking girl, who he swore he'd never seen in his entire life, was muttering answers. It was just loud enough for James to hear, every time, they never spoke loud enough for the professor to hear, and had to repeat themselves until someone would answer correctly, and on to the next question. The answers were said at a whisper, which, just itself was annoying, but the answers were also urgent and snappish. After only a little bit, James wanted to turn around and smack the girl tell her to answer louder, or just not answer at all. He didn't know why it annoyed him so much, it just did.

At the end of class McGonagall said something that made James groan and want to cry. "You all will, I think, be staying in these seats for the rest of the year, I like these seats, you are all _quiet_ in them."

James and his buddies headed out of class and down an empty corridor, and conversation began.

"So how was class today padfoot?" Remus asked, punching Sirius in the arm

"aaahhhh, I got a go nap in!" Sirius said stretching. "What about you moony, have a good time studying, then?"

"Oh yes, it was very enlightening, wouldn't you say, Peter?"

"yes of course"

"Oh, shove it, enlightenment is something Peter wouldn't know about!"

"Shutup padfoot, at least I don't take naps during class, I hope you get caught." Peter squeaked.

"What about you, Prongs?" Remus said

"hmm?" James asked, snapping out of his train of thought

"How was class?"

"Oh, rotten. And if that god damned girl keeps it up, it will be for the rest of the year."

"What god damned girl?" Sirius chimed in, hoping it was some new interest

"I don't know her stupid name, she's a wretch though, sits there all class period mumbling the answers to every bloody question McGonagall asks, it's miserable."

"What does she look like?"

"I dunno, she's not very fit, in fact she's not fit at all. She's more like the absence of fit, little nerdy girl."

"Lynda?"

"Err.. sure. She acts like she's a bloddy genius, gift to the world. Yeah, I knew all the answers too, but I don't sit there murmuring them, I'm not rude enough to interrupt peoples learning, and I'm certainly not rude enough to rub the fact that I know the answers in people's faces. I mean, I hate to be the one to stereotype, but aren't the geeky ones supposed to be nice and polite?"

"Not always, some of them are real snobs, the kinda thing you'd expect from the "high end" Slytherins or Ravenclaws." Remus said, smirking.

"Well who the hell cares, I think I'll just move, maybe I'll get Evans to switch with me, you're sitting by her today, right padfoot."

"Yeah, I came in late, remember?"

"Alright, then we're set, I'll just ask Evans tonight at practice."

* * *

" I was just going back to class when I heard my name so I turned. They didn't even see me. James called me stupid and nerdy and like I thought I was gods gift the the world! God he should talk. He wants to convince you to switch seats with him. Will you? I just don't think I could face him! I don't know what he was so upset about, I don't like talking in public, but it helps me learn to repeat it. "

"Oh, Lynda, I'm, so sorry. You do have a right to be mad, you were just trying you're best, there's nothing wrong with that!"

* * *

Alright, kids. That's the first chap. let me know what you think. I think I'll continue but I want you to tell me if I should even bother. 


End file.
